PC Panasonic Corp.

New Center Will Accelerate 3D Blu-ray Format Setting, Development and Commercialization With Eye Toward 3D Home Theater Products At Retail By 2010 LAS VEGAS, Jan. 7 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Panasonic Corporation, a market and technology leader in HDTV, announced today the creation of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory Advanced Authoring Center (PHL-AC) which will begin operations effective February 1, 2009. The center, which will be located within Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory (PHL) in Universal City, CA, will accelerate 3D Full HD (3D FHD) Blu-ray format-establishment and development and will work directly with Hollywood studios providing 3D title development services for 3D FHD Blu-ray titles. PHL-AC will feature a Plasma 3D Full HD home theater system, a 3D-ready digital cinema projector (Theatrical Dolby 3-D system) with a 380-inch screen theater for 3D HD picture quality evaluation, and a 3-D ready MPEG-4 AVC High Profile encoder. Panasonic is demonstrating its 3D Full HD Plasma Home Theater System (3D FHD) this week at CES 2009. The system made its world debut in Japan at CEATEC 2008 last October to rave reviews. "Panasonic recognizes that for 3D FHD to succeed, just like Blu-ray, collaboration on research, development and production with studios and content providers is absolutely essential," said Eisuke Tsuyuzaki, Managing Director of Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory. "Panasonic is working assiduously, with the cooperation of the Hollywood studios, to promote the 3D FHD system through standardization activities of the 3D format from the Blu-ray Disc Association (BDA). The creation of the new PHL Authoring Center will enable Hollywood to start trial production and ultimately create commercially available 3D FHD titles to realize a new window into reality, and elevate the level of High Definition entertainment that consumers can enjoy in their own homes. We expect 3D FHD to become a reality by 2010." About Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory Established in 2001, Panasonic Hollywood Laboratory has been developing Video Compress technology for film content, Blu-ray standardization, and Blu-ray authoring technology together with major Hollywood Studios. PHL's work in advancing the picture quality of AV equipment has earned it critical acclaim. PHL is producing high-resolution and high quality Blu-ray Discs using the MPEG-4 AVC High Profile encoder developed by PHL itself or the BD-Java authoring system developed by Panasonic R&D. More than 100 of the leading Blu-ray Disc titles have been released by PHL, some of which have garnered major Hollywood technical awards*. About Panasonic Based in Secaucus, NJ, Panasonic Corporation of North America markets a broad line of digital and other electronics products for consumer, business and industrial use. The company is the principal North American subsidiary of Panasonic Corporation (NYSE:PC), and the hub of Panasonic's U.S. branding, marketing, sales, service and R&D operations. Information about Panasonic and its products is available at http://www.panasonic.com/. Additional company information for journalists is available at http://www.panasonic.com/pressroom. * Award Winning Blu-ray Disc Titles 2008 DVDA Excellence Awards (Digital Hollywood - May 2008) -- Excellence in Video Encoding: Fantastic 4 Rise of the Silver Surfer -- Excellence in Advanced Interactivity: Pirates of the Caribbean 2 -- Excellence in Menus & Presentation: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End -- Excellence in TV Disc: Prison Break (Season One) -- Excellence in Game Disc: Independence Day Home Entertainment Critics Awards (Home Entertainment Summit in June 2008) -- Best Blu-ray Theatrical Title: Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End DATASOURCE: Panasonic CONTACT: Chris De Maria, , +1-201-348-7182, , or Jim Reilly, +1-201-392-6067, , both of Panasonic; Alix Dunn, Cohn & Wolfe, +1-212-798-9795, Web Site: http://www.panasonic.com/

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